{"id":369,"date":"2024-02-03T22:04:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T03:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/?p=369"},"modified":"2024-02-03T22:04:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T03:04:52","slug":"is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Have you ever encountered something so beautiful that it left you in a state of awe? Maybe you even felt inspired to be a better person or give more to others? If so, what was it that struck you as beautiful? Maybe it was the rising sun upon the rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean, colorful flowers standing tall amidst a Spring rain, or the majesty of one of Claude Monet\u2019s masterpieces.<\/p>\n

But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?<\/p>\n

My experiences with the beauty of love<\/strong><\/h2>\nLoving parents<\/h3>\n**** One of my earliest experiences of the beauty of love was that of my parents. My mom cared for me through times of asthma, eczema, and food allergies; and my dad worked hard day in and day out, generously channeling every penny he made to the family. All of this love struck me as beautiful and inspired within me a longing to love others.<\/p>\n A gift of jelly<\/h3>\n I can think back to when I lived and served as a Salesian Lay Missionary<\/a> at an orphanage in Bolivia. There were over 100 girls living in the orphanage\u2014most of whom had experienced intense poverty and trauma before coming to the orphanage. One day, I was too sick to come to breakfast; the girls who sat at my table knocked on the door to my bedroom, bringing me a bit of jelly they had saved. Jelly. I didn\u2019t really want the jelly. And surely, few would understand why this was such a salient experience. Jelly was rarely served with the daily bread and was considered an extraordinary treat. The girls usually strived for every last bit of the jelly. But here they were, several of them bringing me a plate containing a good portion of jelly they had saved for me. There was something about the sacrifice and thoughtfulness that left me with an experience of the beauty of love. This was a turning point in my life, as I finally realized that it\u2019s not about what we do or don\u2019t do, but about how we love. With this, I desired to be a better person. I wanted to give more and become a better person.<\/p>\n A humble listener<\/h3>\n Another experience of the beauty of love was with the CFRs\u2014a Franciscan order of religious who took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. My spiritual director, Father Agustino<\/a>, walked in Paterson with his gray habit, listening to one person after another, blessing them while he remained silent, praying. This was yet another experience of the beauty of love. He humbly engaged in compassionate, kind, and virtuous acts; experiencing this beauty, I was inspired to do the same.<\/p>\n Psychological research on the beauty of love<\/strong><\/h2>\n If you\u2019ve also experienced the beauty of love, you are not alone. Research shows that acts of kindness, compassion, courage, charity, etc are perceived as beautiful (Haidt, 2003<\/a>). These acts, referred to as moral beauty, also elicit a sense of elevation\u2014an emotion which gives rise to the desire to become more virtuous (Haidt, 2003). Countless studies have confirmed that we experience virtuous or moral acts as beautiful.<\/p>\n Scholar Rhett Diessner and colleagues even created a measure of the degree to which one engages with moral beauty, as well as natural and artistic beauty (Diessner et al., 2008). You can take the assessment and find out more about your own engagement with beauty by scrolling to the last page of Diessner et al. (2008).<\/a><\/p>\n Remember, there are always ways to increase your engagement with beauty. But first, let\u2019s look at other perspectives on the moral beauty.<\/p>\n Theological perspectives on the beauty of love<\/strong><\/h2>\n****** ** ******Psychologists aren\u2019t the only ones who\u2019ve explored the beauty of love. Theologians would agree that love is beautiful. For example, Hans von Balthasar seems to describe this experience of awe and elevation in response to love. He writes: \u201cFor it is precisely here, in this deed, that genuine divine love begins and ends, a love that overwhelms us and exceeds all capacity to think\u201d (von Balthasar, 2004).<\/p>\n In a document written by the Pontifical Council for Culture, Via Pulchritudinis<\/a> (translated into the \u201cWay of Beauty\u201d), God\u2019s love is referred to as the \u201csource of all beauty\u201d (Pontifical Council for Culture, 2006).<\/p>\n Overall, theologians have long proposed that love is indeed, beautiful.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Biblical perspectives on the beauty of love<\/strong><\/h2>\n******** ** ********Such theological teachings align with ancient Biblical texts.<\/p>\n Moreover, we often read about \u201cglory\u201d in the Bible. We read: \u201cArise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the LORD has dawned upon you\u201d (Isaiah 60:1).<\/a> \u00a0The word used here in the Bible seems to come from the Hebrew word \u201ckabode,\u201d which means splendor. And, the 4th<\/sup> definition of the word \u201cglory\u201d in the Merriam Webster dictionary<\/a> is \u201cgreat beauty and splendor.\u201d<\/p>\n Likewise, in Via Pulchritudinis, we read that Jesus is the \u201cperfect representation of the Glory of the Father. He is the most beautiful of the children of man\u201d (Ponitifical Council for Culture, 2006<\/a>).<\/p>\n Finally, in the Gospel of John, we read the Latin words: \u201cNeque vocem ejus umquam audistis, neque speciem ejus visistis\u201d (John 5:37). This translates into \u201cNeither have you heard His voice, nor seen his beauty\/splendour\u201d (John 5:37). Christ\u2019s splendor? Indeed, Jesus Christ who is Love, is glorious, splendorous, and beautiful.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Finding beautiful love this Valentine\u2019s Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n This Valentine\u2019s Day<\/a>, and beyond, you may want to look for acts of goodness, kindness, and compassion. Notice them and when you do, you may find that you experience beauty\u2014possibly, true beauty. You may encounter the beauty of sacrificial love, like the love of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself entirely for our sakes.<\/p>\n When you notice moral beauty, you may experience that emotion that psychologists have termed elevation\u2014and feel moved inside to become a better person. In doing so, you might want to engage in more charitable and virtuous acts.<\/p>\n Beautiful love, beautiful world<\/h2>\n************ ** With this, you share love with others so that they, too, might encounter the beauty of love. In all of this, you make the world a more truly beautiful place.<\/p>\n ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** References<\/strong><\/h2>\n ** Diessner, R., Solom, R. D., Frost, N. K., Parsons, L., & Davidson, J. (2008). Engagement with beauty: Appreciating natural, artistic, and moral beauty. The Journal of psychology<\/em>, 142<\/em>(3), 303-332.<\/p>\n ** Haidt, J. (2003). Elevation and the positive psychology of morality.<\/p>\n ** Pontifical Council for Culture (March 27-28, 2006) <\/em>\u2013 Via Pulchritudinis. (2006). https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/pontifical_councils\/cultr\/documents\/rc_pc_cultr_doc_20060327_plenary-assembly_final-document_en.html<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** ************Have you ever encountered something so beautiful that it left you in a state of awe? Maybe you even felt inspired to be a better person or give more to others? If so, what was it that struck you as beautiful? Maybe it was the rising sun upon the rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5276,"featured_media":375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,38],"tags":[168,11,171,29,32,165],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beauty","category-psychology","tag-beautiful","tag-beauty","tag-elevation","tag-love","tag-psychology","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\nIs love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Search. Encounter. Rejoice.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/2006\/2024\/02\/stephanie-bergeron-AjFVsvjuSPU-unsplash-Copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"585\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Mattheiss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Mattheiss\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/\",\"name\":\"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#\/schema\/person\/df6b7ee42bcd606b6c2ebdd50d994dc0\"},\"description\":\"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/\",\"name\":\"Search. Encounter. Rejoice.\",\"description\":\"Ask. Seek. Explore. Discover. Journey with me as we search for meaning in all of creation and, in particular, in the study of the human person.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#\/schema\/person\/df6b7ee42bcd606b6c2ebdd50d994dc0\",\"name\":\"Samantha Mattheiss\",\"description\":\"Samantha R. Mattheiss, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Felician University. She earned a doctorate in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience from Rutgers University \u2013 Newark. She has published both empirical, scientific research as well as interdisciplinary work on the intersection of faith and science. Her research interests were inspired by time spent serving as a Salesian Lay Missionary in Bolivia and living in ecclesial communities in both Philadelphia, PA and Newark, NJ.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/author\/smattheiss\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day","description":"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day","og_description":"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/","og_site_name":"Search. Encounter. Rejoice.","article_published_time":"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":585,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/2006\/2024\/02\/stephanie-bergeron-AjFVsvjuSPU-unsplash-Copy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Samantha Mattheiss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samantha Mattheiss","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/","name":"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-04T03:04:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#\/schema\/person\/df6b7ee42bcd606b6c2ebdd50d994dc0"},"description":"But have you ever been moved by acts of love? Have you ever noticed someone doing good, performing acts of kindness, or engaging in heroic actions, and felt inwardly inspired, even moved? Or, has someone ever treated you with selfless love such that you felt you had encountered the beauty of love?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/2024\/02\/is-love-beautiful-encounter-beauty-this-valentines-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is love beautiful? Encounter beauty this Valentine\u2019s Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/","name":"Search. Encounter. Rejoice.","description":"Ask. Seek. Explore. Discover. Journey with me as we search for meaning in all of creation and, in particular, in the study of the human person.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/#\/schema\/person\/df6b7ee42bcd606b6c2ebdd50d994dc0","name":"Samantha Mattheiss","description":"Samantha R. Mattheiss, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Felician University. She earned a doctorate in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience from Rutgers University \u2013 Newark. She has published both empirical, scientific research as well as interdisciplinary work on the intersection of faith and science. Her research interests were inspired by time spent serving as a Salesian Lay Missionary in Bolivia and living in ecclesial communities in both Philadelphia, PA and Newark, NJ.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/author\/smattheiss\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/searchencounterrejoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}